Stuff

So I haven't posted much lately - but not because we are not doing "stuff."  Our weeks are crazy doing everybody's "stuff."  But the "stuff" is the normal, every-day things:  work, school, student council for the boys, swimming for Jonas, gymnastics for everyone else, mowing lawns, homework, reading for the read-a-thon, church activities, etc., etc. 

It would be good to simplify, yet our kids individually aren't over-scheduled - I don't think.  And everything they are doing are good things.  But as a family as a whole, we are pretty darn scheduled!

I just finished working three 12-hour night shifts this week.  Blech.  I am so happy to be done and to get to sleep in my bed and at night again!  :)

Here are just a few random pictures:

 August's calendar - just a little late.

 What happens after a trip to the library!

 September's calendar - not too late.  :)

My dapper husband and daughter ready to go listen to General Conference on Sunday morning.

 Jonas had his first band concert this past Tuesday.  I was bummed to have to miss it as I was working.  I think Jonas had a great time!  The girls and Ben enjoyed the performances. 

Who is this brave, radical girl and where does she get her style?!  She saw a girl a month or so ago with a similar cut - although the side was more of a buzzed-cut.  Ben wouldn't go for that - much to Emmy's dismay.  But we found a great compromise!  We had to go to Walmart as all of our friends who cut hair couldn't do it in time - Emmy just had to have it in time for today's school pictures.  What a wild beauty!

Tri, try again!

So we did the Black Canyon Sprint Triathlon again - for our 2nd time.  We had the same two teams as we did last year:  Team Brigham (Ben, Emmy, and Lucy) and Team Wilson/Wilson Brigade (Emily, Miles, and Jonas).  If you remember from last year, we took 1st and 2nd place, respectively.  But that was because we were the only two teams!  This year there were 8 family relay teams and so the competition was going to be tougher.  :)  We weren't expecting to place as we had a couple of "older" kids on our teams, which meant farther distances.  Each person on a family-relay does the length ascribed to his/her age group.  Although I made Emmy run the longer distance (the youth, age 11-14, division) because I was not going to have her run a 0.8K (which is like a 1/2 mile!).  She can do so much more and wouldn't need to train for that.

So we did our tri-training for about 6 weeks.  We usually went once a week and each did our thing:  Ben and Jonas swam, Miles and Lucy biked, and Emmy and I ran.  For the past month our trainings were basically our FHEs.  :)

It was another great tri for our family:

 Jonas was the first to go in our family!  It did an illegal dive - ha.  But nobody cared.  :)  Jonas did 5 laps (250 yards) total - a mix of freestyle and breaststroke.

 He looked great!

 Brrrrrr, it was so cold in the morning - especially, I am sure, when you're all wet!

 Transition time - handing off the chip from our swimmer Jonas to biking Miles.  Miles was off for his ride!

 Meanwhile, Team Brigham started and Ben did his 1,000 yard-swim.  Then he ran out into the cool morning!

 Ben giving his timing chip to Lucy.

 Ben rode with Lucy on her bike ride.  Besides a little cry of knee-pain from Lucy, she did awesome!

 I had already headed out on my run.  Then Lucy came back and handed her chip off to Emmy.

Go, Emmy, go!

I ran a 5K and Emmy ran a 2.5K.  We ended up meeting each other for the last 1/2 mile or so.  It was great.  I came up to Emmy (my street T'ed in to her street) and said, "Hey!"  Emmy saw me and started sprinting (at least one of my kid has some competitiveness in them!).  I told her that Team Brigham had already beaten Team Wilson (since we had started earlier) and so then she consented to run in with me.  :)

 The Wilson Brigade's shirts.  :)

 Team Brigham in their awesome shirts!

All of us all done!

We went back around 1 for the awards ceremony and, much to our surprise, the Wilson Brigade took 2nd and Team Brigham took . . .1st!  Ha, how fun!  Our training had paid off!

 The Wilson Brigade with our silver medals.

 Team Brigham and their gold medals.

Our tri-family!

Next year I think most of us will do the triathlon on our own . . . except for maybe Lucy.  We'll see - I'm not sure my other kids (excepting Jonas of course) can do the swimming part!  We might have to start training more than 6 weeks before the race.

It was a fun way to end our September!

Dear Kids, ______ Is My Favorite Child

Dear Miles, Jonas, Emmy, and Lucy,

So you all like to ask me which one of my kids is my favorite.  As a parent, we are not supposed to have favorite children . . . but I do.  And I will tell you who it is soon . . .

But, first, you have each had your turn as my favorite child.  Miles, you for-sure held that position for at least the first 21 months of your life - seeing as you were my only child.  Jonas, you took over Miles' position as favorite when you came along.  A new, sweet baby versus a toddler - it wasn't too hard for you, Jonas, to win "Mom's favorite" during that time!  Emmy you came along in 2007 and as a beautiful new baby and our first girl, you took the claim to being my favorite child.  How fun you were to dress!  For the next few years it probably depended on the day who was my favorite.  But dear little Lucy came along in 2010 and "favorite child" definitely belonged to you, Goose, at least for a while! 

But now it is 2017 and you are all dying to know who my favorite child is.  So I will tell you.

My favorite child is Brigham.  That's right, our dog.  So if you want to become my favorite child here are just a few tips from Brigham:

1.  Always (as in 100% of the time) be excited about going for a hike - jiggle your entire body, in fact, to show your excitement.  Keep coming up to me and push your nose on my body because you just can't stand having to wait a second longer for our hike!  You should know we're going out for an adventure just because of what I wear - so, yes, show total excitement when you know we're going for a hike (or a bike ride or, heck, even a walk around the block).

2.  Never complain on the before-mentioned hike.  In fact, run and frolic and have the time of your life!  But, never get so far ahead whereas I can't see you - or, if by chance you do, wait a moment or two until you see me, give me a nod, and then continue with your frolicking.

3.  Don't require any special treats or snacks while hiking.  Because, duh, the hike is the treat!

4.  Always thank me for an awesome adventure.  But, please, not in licks.

Those are just a few things you can do to claim the title of "Mom's favorite child."  Good luck!

love,
mom

An Update on ALL of Us

I know that my updates get long and wordy . . . but I haven't done one in a while . . .

Ben - His days of bishoping are now numbered.  Probably in the 60-day range or so.  I'm excited!  I know he is too in many ways - but I also think he's feeling all of the "I should have's" or "I didn't do enough here's," etc.  He gave a great ward-conference talk last week and I was hoping that his stress that he'd been feeling because of it would go away.  Which I guess that stress went away, but it was a heavy Sunday full of heavy issues and he almost seemed even more stressed afterwards.  Again, I'm excited for his release!  :)  Work continues to go just fine - he works with Dr. Singh in the hospital on Mondays and the rest of his time at the Surgical Center. 

Me - I have been pretty busy since school has started.  Out of the 4 weeks of school, I have worked 3 of them.  I wasn't supposed to work last week, but they needed me and it's hard for me to say no - even though I wanted to.  A group of ladies were getting together on Thursday and so I opted for not sleeping after my shift and hanging out with them all day.  We had a great time biking from Ridgway to Ouray, then to lunch, then to the Hot Springs.  It was way better than sleeping all day!  But, yes, I was tired.  Work is okay.  I have been floated a couple of times to the med-surg. floor - which I hate.  If that continues, I really will quit my job.  I hate med-surg. that much - it's actually why I quit the last time (8 years ago) I worked.  The weeks I work I am just busy with work, helping out in my kids' classrooms, grocery planning and shopping, laundry, and picking up the house.  So when that opportunity came last week to do something "fun," I just had to forgo sleep.  I'm still suffering from achilles tendonitis and some sciatic issues.  It makes me feel old, although I don't think 38 is necessarily old.  I have a new calling coming up next week . . . stay tuned to find out what it is.  :)

Miles - He is in his last year of middle school.  As far as I know, he is doing okay.  He joined StuCo (Student Council) after I encouraged Jonas to do so.  I'm now kicking myself that I didn't encourage Miles to join it his 6th-grade year!  Doh.  Miles likes StuCo and loves being part of the concession stand at our school for the local sporting activity.  He likes making the nachos.  He loves getting 1$ of concession food per hour he "works."  Go junk food.  He and Jonas love getting to school early to play Gaga ball.  Check it out here.  This gaga ball court is outside and is extremely popular.  A student built it for his Eagle project.  It's awesome.  Miles has had his fair shares of wins.  I'm scared of our high school here and am not excited for him (or anyone in my family) to go there.  So . . . I started doing a little research in to BYU's High School courses.  I am definitely looking in to that as an option for next year.  We will see.

Jonas - He seems to be happy with middle school so far.  He likes riding his bike to school each day with Miles.  And he, too, likes being a part of StuCo and likes telling us his funny experiences.  It's cute.  He started up swim-team again.  He was supposed to go four times a week, but that's just too much.  So he goes three times a week and misses out on Tuesdays practice - which is our church youth night and so it works out well.  He will sometimes complain of having to go to practice, but he always comes out of his practices happy!  He still is so emotionally labile - he can be fine and dandy one second and then you tell him an answer he doesn't like and he thinks the sky is falling.  He'll be turning 12 in just a few short months!  So fun.

Emmy - She is adjusting okay to her class.  She is in a 3/4 class - so it has both 3rd graders and 4th graders.  I'm not going to go in to all the details, but it's not the best of situations, but is working out okay.  She has a male teacher that she loves, "even though he yells a lot."  She had a friend come over after school on Friday and that was a pretty big deal.  I just don't know many of the parents and so it's hard to set up play-dates.  But I did and she and Rosalinda had a good time.  Rosa has big crushes on Miles and Jonas.  :)  Emmy is hopefully getting ready for a gymnastics competition soon - but her coach has yet to sign-up for a specific meet and date.  I hope he does because Emmy really does want to go to a competition.  She goes to gymnastics 2-3 times a week and loves it.

Lucy - She is doing very well as a 1st-grader.  I have been to her class several times (every Tuesday at 10) and it's fun to see her and her classmates.  She's a smart and good student.  She is in her third year in her music/pre-piano class and loves it - although it is getting harder, which means harder "homework."  She loves gymnastics and I wish she could go more often and be pushed a little more.  But she is going to a different class now and I do think it will push her a bit more.  She, like her sister, has potential for sure.  One of her best-friends, Dory, is now going to the Ridgway school and will be moving out to Ridgway sometime in October.  It's a bummer as they were such great friends!  But she still has a lot of good friends at school.

Wilson and Brigham are just fine!  Wilson seemed almost-dead before we left for Midway, but we came home and he was looking more alive than ever!  That dog is definitely on his 9th life.  :)  Brigham is great and loves, loves, loves going out with Ben and me when we go mountain biking.

Our family is getting ready for our 2nd-ever triathlon.  Our teams will be the same - Team Wilson (myself, Miles, and Jonas) and Team Brigham (Ben, Emmy, and Lucy).  There are quite a few more family-teams this year and so we aren't expecting our 1st and 2nd place finishes as we did last year b/c there was only us.  :)  Our family is also planning on hiking our first 14er this weekend.  Camping Friday night and then heading up Mount Handies dark-and-early Saturday morning!

And that's that.

Swiss Days

It had been a few years since we got to enjoy Swiss Days and its festivities and so we decided to go up to my parents' place for a long weekend and enjoy Swiss Days, my parents, Midway, etc.!  We were able to leave on Thursday (we checked the kids out of school just a wee bit earlier than normal) and came home Monday night.  So it was a nice, long weekend break for us!

On Friday we went to Swiss Days.  The girls each found some things to spend their money on . . . the boys were on their own to roam, browse, etc.  Neither boy spent any of their money on Friday.  After a couple hours of checking out all the craft vendors, we went back to my parents' home and ate lunch - and then it was off to the pool!  We grilled some dinner and then Ben and I (and Brigham as our third-wheel) went on a mountain-biking date.  Ben had checked out some trails right by my parents house and so we went and explored that - we couldn't quite find the trail he wanted to do, so we just rode wherever.  It was fun.

On Saturday Ben took the kids down early for the pancake breakfast.  I went for a run with Brigham.  I met up with them later and we watched that parade together - my parents were busy these two days volunteering their time at the Ham and Cheese sandwich booth (which was the booth their ward was assigned to help with.  My mom had already spent hours and hours making their special cookies and Swiss Bread.  She was called/assigned over this duty.).  The parade was fun!  We then walked around the vendors some more and got some lunch.  We watched some of their musical performances, including the One Voice Children's Choir. The boys bought me some cool earrings - how fun!  Jonas ended up not getting anything at all - Miles bought a cool shirt.  We went back and I took the kids swimming - while Ben grocery shopped (he loves going to the grocery store!) and made granola for dinner.  :)  After dinner we watched the BYU football game.  It was very depressing - enough said about that.

Sunday was church, of course.  The kids all knew where to go as we were just there two weeks before!  Jonas fit in easily with his class of boys.  :)  Lucy enjoyed her class and teachers, too.  Miles was fine.  Emmy had a great teacher - her grandpa!  My dad teaches her class and so that was fun for them!  After church and some of the kids eating lunch (the rest of us fasting), we took the kids for a walk up Memorial Hill.  It was memorial in the sense of it being super-duper hot and the kids being super-duper grouchy that we made them go for a hot walk - ha!

We had a really fun and yummy dinner that night - raclette.  The kids totally enjoyed making up their own dishes.  Super fun.  After dinner we went over to Christian Sabey's house in Heber.  We visited with them for a few hours and then went home.

On Monday Ben and I (and our third-wheel) went on another biking date.  It was an awesome trail and we had a great morning ride!  We came back and then went to Zermatt's mini-golf course.  It was totally fun - except when my ball was so close to the hole and I couldn't get it in again and again and again!  The kids really had a good time, too - as did my dad.  It was my dad's birthday, too!  We should have let him win - but, instead, he got 3rd place.  :)  Then it was back for a quick swim in the pool - while I got the car packed up and lunch ready.

On our way home Jonas ended up barfing.  Yuck.  We stopped in Junction for Cafe Rio - and to clean up the car as much as possible.  We were able to take out the floor mat and clean that up (I say we, but really mean Ben).  Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful ride home.

Brigham was really interested in our fancy Arby's dinner on the way out.  :)

 Pancake breakfast time!

 Midway is such a cool town!

 My dad found a great spot and parked the Ranger there for us to watch the parade - like he always does!

 Oh, Jonas did buy himself a snow-cone.  :)

 Watching the parade on the Ranger is so cool and fun.

 The boys helped Grandma get our fun Sunday dinner ready.

 Our memorial walk up Memorial Hill.  Brigham and I were the only ones smiling.  :)

 That's pretty much how all the kids felt!  :)

 Brigham was just one big slobbery mess.

 Putting the final touches on our raclette dinner.

 Super fun and delicious!

 While Ben and I were out on our date on Monday morning, I had Miles make Grandpa one of his favorite things (at least it used to be):  Coffee Cake!  Happy birthday to you!

 Brigham likes air-hockey, too.

 Mini-golf.  Lucy had quite a stellar start, but it quickly went downhill from there.  :)

 Emmy had a great time and even beat me!  (Which isn't saying much, but still!)

 Jonas wasn't too great.  But I think he still had fun, although it doesn't look like it in this picture . . . :)

 Miles did awesome - probably because he wore his awesome new shirt he bought at Swiss Days.  He ended up getting 2nd place!

 Ben.  He's always good at whatever he does!

 My dad had some great holes - and then some not-so-great holes.  He lost to Miles by one point.  :)

Hehe, the winner!  I made him pose for me.  :)  The results:  Ben, Miles, dad, Emmy, me, Jonas, Lucy.  My mom was score-keeper.

Another awesome trip to Midway.

The Day Emmy Turned 10

Well it's taken me a while to get this posted because I've been working the past two weeks and we went out of town last weekend . . . so finally I have some time.

Emmy's 10th birthday was on a Sunday - which doesn't lend itself to the most "fun" birthdays, but I think it was a really great day for her and the rest of us.  I had set up a Daddy-daughter date for Emmy and Ben on Saturday and so they went to Amazing Glaze and painted some really cute mugs.  They both had a great time!

On Sunday, we got up in the morning, Emmy opened a gift, everyone ate some sugary birthday cereal (Cocoa Puffs) and then we were off to church.  Emmy had fun at church - sharing time included having little ice cream sundaes (to go along with a great lesson on Sundays/Sundaes) and her class had a sub and they didn't have a lesson, just "fun" as Emmy put it.  :)

Ben gave Emmy the gift of coming home straight from church - Emmy even got to ride with him.  That was pretty awesome.  We had lunch, opened up the rest of Emmy's gifts, and then watched the movie Matilda.  For dinner Emmy requested porcupine meatballs and they were yummy!  Ben then had to leave "for an hour" meeting for ward conference planning, or something like that.  Two-and-a-half hours later, he came back.  There might have been a tear or two shed by the birthday girl.  But Ben finally came home, we quickly had cake, and then sent the kids to bed - it was a school-night after all.  :)

It was a great day and Emmy was super happy - she's so old now!

 10 - wow!

Emmy having fun opening her gifts.

 Haha, I love this picture.  Emmy is writing in her locked diary . . .while Ben is coming at her with her nerf gun.  :)

 Emmy got something that puts jewels in her hair - Jonas had a lot of fun doing it!

 Emmy and one of her favorite gifts - Broster the teddy bear.  The kids all pitched in their money (plus a little bit from me and Ben) to buy the bear at the farmer's market.  We decided on Broster - a mix of brother and sister, since they gave it to Emmy.  Both Emmy and Broster are so cute!

 Another favorite gift - a mini locker.  She requested it - but I don't think either of us knew it would be this small!  I love the kindergarten picture she found and put up in the locker!

 Birthday cake!  It was some ice cream cookie dough cake.  Very rich, but yummy, too.

10 years old . . . aiyiyi.